1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a robot vacuum cleaner providing agitation to the cleaning surface by action of both air jets directed at the surface and agitation brushes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a robot vacuum cleaner draws in contaminants such as dust from a surface to be cleaned while automatically traveling an area without being manually guided by a user. Such a robot vacuum cleaner detects an obstacle such as furniture, appliances, or a wall in the cleaning area by a distance sensor relative to its position. The robot vacuum cleaner selectively drives a right wheel motor and/or a left wheel motor to automatically change its traveling direction and thereby performs a cleaning operation in the cleaning area.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional robot vacuum cleaner comprises a cleaner body 10, a driving wheel 11 and a driven wheel 12 which are disposed at a lower portion of the cleaner body 10. An upper portion of the cleaner body 10 is provided with an antenna 13 for receiving and transmitting signals to and from a remote controller and a distance sensor 14. The movement of a robot vacuum cleaner will necessarily require it to move in many different directions, for consistency of explanation, this description refers to the front and rear of the robot vacuum cleaner with reference to its straight-away forward moving orientation. The interior of the cleaner body 10 is provided with a driving motor (not shown) for generating a suction force, a contaminant collecting receptacle and a filter. The suction force is transmitted from the driving motor to a suction port 15, which is disposed at the lower portion of the cleaner body 10 to draw in contaminants and dust from the cleaning surface through the suction port 15 and eventually into the receptacle.
Conventional robot vacuum cleaners sometimes do not remove contaminants completely, especially contaminants embedded in a carpet or stuck to the cleaning surface. This can be particularly irritating or even become a hazard if fine contaminants such as dust, dust mites or other allergens are left behind. Conventional robot vacuum cleaners determine the cleaning operation to be finished once an area is covered and will stop the cleaning operation even if fine contaminants are left behind. That is because the suction force at the suction port 15 is generally not strong enough to completely remove contaminants that are embedded in or stuck to the cleaning surface.